The present invention relates to systems and methods for processing credit and debit card validity and funds collection transactions, and in particular relates to such systems and methods for processing credit and debit card transactions from remote automated installations such as vending machines and similar terminals.
In recent years, there have been developed a number of automated machines for handling credit and debit transactions, including vending machines and automatic bank teller machines. An example of an automated vending machine particularly adapted for dispensing video cassettes is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,893,705 to Brown, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. The vending machine disclosed in the Brown '705 patent is electronically operated when a customer presents a credit card or similar coded token, the identity of which is used to control the vending and later return of the video cassette being rented.
At present, there are a number of electronic clearing facilities for receiving real-time inputs from retail establishments as well as from automated vending machines like that taught in the '705 Brown patent via long distance communication links to determine credit card and debit card validity, and to initiate funds collection and/or funds transfer for each transaction. (For shorthand purposes, the term "credit card" is used hereafter to refer to both credit cards and debit cards). In the past, access to the electronic clearing facilities were made across the long distance communications link manually; more recently, automatic credit card readers are placed at each retail facility or vending machine for purposes of reading the customer's credit card, initiating the long distance communication to the clearing facility, addressing the customer's credit card information to the clearing facility and then receiving a confirmation from the clearing facility that the customer's credit card is valid and that the particular transaction in question is within the customer's credit or debit limits.
In the case of electronic vending machines of the type disclosed in the '705 Brown patents, each individual transaction usually is of a rather modest amount, and therefore the long distance communications charges represent a significant operating cost.